The present invention relates to the removal of blades from scalpel handles.
During or at the end of a surgical procedure, disposable scalpel blade must be removed from non-disposable scalpel handles. During surgery, some of the disposable blades may get dull or become contaminated and must be replaced by new sharp, sterile blades.
A prior art scalpel handle 10 is shown in FIG. 1 and has a handle portion 12 and a narrow inserted portion 14 connected by a neck portion 16. The inserted portion 14 is located at the forward end of the handle 10 and is adapted to hold a blade 18. The inserted portion 14 has a rounded front end 20 and a rounded rear end 22 with grooves 24 provided around the outer periphery. The blade 18 has a keyed slot 26 with a narrow portion 28 and a wider portion 30 located towards the rear of the slot 26. In operation, the front end 20 of the inserted portion 14 is inserted into the wider portion 30 of the slot 26 and the narrow portion 28 of the slot 26 slides in the grooves 24 until the rear of the slot 26 clears the rear end 22 of the inserted portion 14, at which point the blade 18 is fitted in place on the inserted portion 14. When the blade 18 is in its normal position on the inserted portion 14 of the handle 10, the rear end 22 of the inserted portion 14 engages a rear edge 32 of the blade slot 26, which prevents the blade 18 from moving along its slot 26 along the grooves 24 of the inserted portion 14.
In a simple but dangerous maneuver, to remove a blade 18 from the knife handle 10, a nurse will typically use a surgical tool or his or her fingers to disengage the rear edge 32 of the slot 26 of the blade 18 from the rear end 22 of the inserted portion 14 of the handle 10, and then begin sliding the blade slot 26 along the inserted portion 14. This results in an uncontrolled bending of the blade 18 within its elastic limit so that when the inserted portion 14 reaches the wider portion 30 of the slot 26, the blade 18 has a tendency to snap upward. Such bending and sliding of the blade is dangerous because it may cut the nurse. The blade may also be propelled away from the operating area where someone would have to retrieve. The blade may then be lost temporarily. Furthermore, while removing a blade 18 from a handle 10, the nurse's hand may be cut if his or her hand accidentally slips along the blade 18.
Thus, there is a need to facilitate the safe removal and disposal of blades from surgical knife handles. One such attempt to address this problem is the surgical blade removal and disposal device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,318,473. This patent discloses the use of a blade removing portion which has a guide integral with a case for guiding the handle and its associated blade therethrough. The guide includes a slot deeper than the handle for receiving the handle and for permitting the handle to move downward. The guide also includes a shoulder positionable under the blade for supporting the rear of the blade. When the handle moves downward in the slot, the inserted portion pulls the central portion of the blade down causing it to bow on the shoulder and the forward portion of the case releasing the rear edge of the blade between the blade slot and the handle and permitting the slot of the handle to slide on the inserted portion. The guide also has a stop integral with the case rearward of the shoulder and above the top of the blade prior to bowing the blade for engaging the rear of the blade. The stop also functions to prevent rearward motion of the blade when it is bowed so that the inserted portion moves in the slot to a wider portion of the slot thereby disengaging the blade from the handle. An abutment forward of the guide and integral with the case positioned over the forward portion of the blade and a guard over the rear of the blade prevent the forward and rear portions of the blade from snapping off the case when the blade is disengaged from the inserted portion.
However, this surgical blade removal and disposal device suffers from a number of drawbacks. First, in order to facilitate safe and proper removal of blades, the blade must be placed at a proper angle in the guide means to allow the blade removal operation to take place. Second, the blade must be aligned appropriately within the guide means. Third, although a larger blade may be removed by this surgical blade removal and disposal device, the removal of such large blades requires bending and twisting of the handle and the blade, which is both dangerous and difficult.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,729,879 discloses a blade removal device with a blade seat for receiving the blade, a handle seat for receiving the handle, a dividing wall provided between the blade seat and the handle seat and having a sharp curved edge for separating the blade from the handle, and a restraining wall for restraining the blade from rearward movement once the blade has been positioned in the blade seat and the handle withdrawn rearwardly. The present inventor has found that his design in this patent needed improved guidance for the handle and blade. The present inventor also found that the entirely rigid device was in some instances difficult to operate to remove a scalpel handle.
In addition to the safe removal and disposal of surgical blades, the surgical staff must maintain strict accountability for all surgical sharps and/or instruments to ensure that none remain in the patient after surgery, or that none of the surgical sharps and/or instruments are lost or lying around the operating room which may cause injury to the unwary. After removal of a blade, it is placed in a disposal unit so that an accounting can be made of the disposed blades and other sharp objects which when added to the unused blades must equal the number of all blades brought into the surgery.